My SIL gives us eggs, and DH felt the same as you :) I read that the darker yolk has to do with what they are fed.

For me, deeper colors imply a richness and health. Like the leaves of a gardenia :) It's in trouble when they turn light green.

I know what her chickens eat and that they forage on her property. That's NOT the case with store bought eggs.

Former neighbor worked with a guy who had enough chickens that he had eggs to sell... you provided cartons and they were super fresh and CHEAP. Were often different sizes and color and sometimes needed a bit of a clean up.

Lovely dark yolks mean the hens are getting lots of healthy green vegetables to eat.

They were a little more expensive unfortunately. I used to buy the omega-3 eggs but found the flavour to be a bit off for my taste. I do like getting the roam free ones and now, occasionally, farm eggs.

Right now I can't get my free range eggs from a co-worker that I've been buying for the past few years. A huge 6 ft. plus black snake invaded her coop more than once this past summer. She took pictures of the no-longer-living snake to show how big it was. Now the few remaining hens are going through their molt, when they don't produce many eggs. I hope she increases her flock in the spring. :o(

Teresa

We raised free-range chickens for several years and the yolks of their eggs were thick and very orange. We had to finally sell the chickens because the hassle of going through the winter with them was just too much as we aged. (Freezing water, freezing chickens, etc.)

As good as we felt about having our own totally organic eggs, I have to tell you that in a blind taste test, we couldn't tell the difference between those and store bought.

Free range meat chickens, however are definitely far superior. Since they go from egg to skillet in just eight weeks, we plan to raise them again this summer.

I can definitely taste the difference in my fresh farm eggs and commercial eggs. The yolks of the farm eggs are darker and thicker and have a distinctly more "eggy" flavor. The yolks stand up higher and the whites do not spread out as much, that has to do with freshness. I prefer not to eat eggs when the hens aren't laying, although I do buy commercial eggs for baking when necessary.

I live in Michigan and it's going to get down to 1F tomorrow night, if the weather service is right (which is seldom is). I have a heated dog bowl and my "girls" have fresh water daily, and it hasn't frozen yet. It cost less than $20 and hasn't seemed to affect the electric bill, it uses very little in the way of watts. I keep cold tolerant chicken varieties including Sussex, Orpingtons and Rhode Island Reds and none of them are freezing, nor do I have chickens with frost bitten combs and such that others say they've experienced.

Annie

The HG had breakfast eggs every morning on our trip and he could not get over the rich orange color and the taste. He really enjoyed it to the point of 3 over-easy every morning. I was surprised at the quality because this was cruise food.

Annie, It was 84 here today but it's going to cool down tomorrow I suspect because family members from Michigan are flying in and bring the much needed cooler temps with them.